Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Clostridium difficile found in healthy dogs and dogs with diarrhea
By Wetterwik, Karl-Johan et al.·Published in Acta veterinaria Scandinavica·2013·Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Clostridium difficile in faeces from healthy dogs and dogs with diarrhea.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that two dogs with diarrhea tested positive for a harmful bacteria called Clostridium difficile, while only two healthy dogs had a non-harmful version of the bacteria. The sick dogs had a strain that produces toxins, which can cause gastrointestinal issues. In contrast, the healthy dogs carried a strain that did not produce these toxins. This suggests that C. difficile may play a role in diarrhea in dogs, but more research is needed to understand its impact fully.
People also search for: dog diarrhea causes · Clostridium difficile in dogs · treatment for dog diarrhea · healthy dog poop vs sick dog poop
Abstract
BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to evaluate the faecal occurrence and characterization of Clostridium difficile in clinically healthy dogs (N = 50) and in dogs with diarrhea (N = 20) in the Stockholm-Uppsala region of Sweden. FINDINGS: Clostridium difficile was isolated from 2/50 healthy dogs and from 2/20 diarrheic dogs. Isolates from healthy dogs were negative for toxin A and B and for the tcdA and tcdB genes. Both isolates from diarrheic dogs were positive for toxin B and for the tcdA and tcdB genes. The C. difficile isolates from healthy dogs had PCR ribotype 009 (SE-type 6) and 010 (SE-type 3) whereas both isolates from dogs with diarrhoea had the toxigenic ribotype 014 (SE-type 21). One of the isolates from healthy dogs was initially resistant to metronidazole. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed presence of toxigenic C. difficile in faecal samples of diarrheic dogs and low number of non- toxigenic isolates in healthy dogs from Uppsala-Stockholm region in Sweden. However, more comprehensive studies are warranted to investigate the role of C. difficile in gastrointestinal disease in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23497714/